Five For Friday: FIVE days left!!

We had field day today! On top of the normal end of school madness, we enjoyed a fun filled day outside... but now I am wiped out! I missed last week's five for friday, so this is going to be a recap of the last two weeks! 

{one}

Last week we brainstormed all of our favorite first grade memories. Click on the picture to read that post!

Then the kids wrote all about their favorite memory, and we drew a self portrait with a scene of the memory in the background. I have a picture like this from the beginning, middle, and end of the school year, so I look forward to sending those home at the end of the year!

{two}

Our team has been doing LOTS of grade level rotations recently. We did a math fun day last week, and then this week did some IB related ones so we could make sure we had everything we needed for their portfolio. I started off strong with that, but it kind of fizzled after the third unit... 

You can read more about our portfolios here. I have to say though, I think it would be much better if we did a single year portfolio instead of one that follows them through elementary. I already know of 3 kids in my class that are moving, so it won't follow them through the years like we want. 

Anyways, the groups loved this marshmallow and toothpick shape building activity last week! It kept them very busy and engaged!

{three}

We celebrated sweet Liam's 2nd birthday on Saturday! I can't believe he is 2 now! It also shocks me how much he talks! He is a much earlier talker than Alex was.

I always take pictures of the boys in the backyard around their birthdays! They were very cute and cooperative in the picture taking this time! :)

{four}

The fifth graders have been busy working on their exhibition projects as a culminating activity for the IB PYP. Lots of them are wanting others to take action too, so we spent some time picking up trash this week to help a group out!

Another group was did a cold water challenge to raise money for an organization who helps stop tiger poaching. One of my former first graders, who is now a fifth grader working on the project nominated me to participate!
It was a cold ending to field day that is for sure!

{five}

I think there should be "I survived Field Day" T-shirts! I don't think people truly understand exhaustion until they go through a field day either! The kids had a blast and we had great stations, but I am ready for the boys to go to bed so I can do soon after! These days wear me out!

5 days left for me! It feels longer when I keep seeing other teachers finishing up, but there is still LOTS to do before the end of the school year!

Joining the five for friday Linky party over at Doodle Bug Teaching's blog! :)

Five For Friday... TGIF!!

The last two weeks have been crazy! I don't love report card time. We are working on our benchmarks and end of quarter assessments.... it messes up our whole schedule! But I am getting some good data, and a new quarter is kind of a fresh start so we are going to change some things up as far as small groups and workshop! Nothing too major, but hopefully it will get us all back on track!
Here's what has been going on recently...

1. As an IB school we have to develop portfolios for students to reflect on their work. Using them in a first grade classroom can be an interesting task. I wrote about it here.

2.  Last week was our fall break. We unexpectedly had to make the long trip to cleveland for my Grandpa's funeral. Thankfully our boys are great travelers!

3. One of the good things about the trip was being able to see all of my family! We are spread out in 4 different states and 2 countries! We hadn't been all together in over 2 years (well, we were missing a brother-in-law, but we were almost all together!)

You see that boy on the right? Oh yeah, that would be Alex...

adding some attitude to our picture! ;)

4. We survived our first field trip of the year.... the play Junie B. Jones! It's my favorite kind of field trip. Get on bus, get off, sit and watch show, and get back on bus! ;) low key is what I needed this week! The kids really enjoyed it though and that is what is important!

5. Alex draws a picture! He drew a picture of himself and Liam. I thought it was sweet. He has not been into drawing at all so I just love everything he does!! He even wrote Liam's name-- I just helped with the M!

Yeah, so this post is not so much about school.... I saw this article on facebook and am glad to know there is a name for what I am feeling right now! Hehe! Thankful for a restful weekend ahead so I can regroup to make it through the second half of DEVOLSON! :)

I'm linking up with Doodle Bug Teachings Five for Friday this week! :)

Using Portfolios in the Primary Classroom

As an IB school, we are required to have the students keep a portfolio that they use to reflect on each of our transdisciplinary units. At our school, the students start their portfolio in kindergarten and it follows them until they get to 5th grade. 

This is our third year doing portfolios. Our first year I created the framework for what I wanted mine to look like... Of course, keeping up with it was a whole different story! 

But its a new year and I have new goals for making sure we keep up with it better! :)

Here is what our portfolios look like...

The Cover... 

Some kindergarten teachers use the pages I made, so I am excited that the kids will have a cute self portrait from kindergarten follow them all the way to 5th grade!

Table of Contents...

We have areas in our Portfolio for our 6 Transdisciplinary themes, Learner Profile, and Action/Student Choice. I've made some blank editable pages for those who are not an IB school too! You can choose what ever areas you want!

The trickiest part of portfolios is keeping up with the work that can potentially go in the portfolio. 

I usually have my kids keep an inquiry folder and we store work in there for each unit then at the end of the unit I let them pick a piece of work that they want to add. This first time around I don't give them as much choice because we are building the routines so I gave them the summative assessment and we all reflected on that.

Reflection Choices:

I give my kids three choices

1. I enjoyed this

2. I learned

3. It was difficult. 

Even though it is some times hard to read what these first graders write as their reflection, I really want them to write about it. If they just put a happy or sad face, they are just hitting the surface. I want them to start thinking about the WHY. 

Now remember... this was our very FIRST reflection... First graders are still learning what it means to reflect, so whatever they write down, I will take! :) 

As the year goes on, I will encourage the kids to go a little deeper and work to pull more out of them. 

At this point, I want them to get used to looking at their work, 

reflecting on how they felt about it, 

and trying to express why they thought that.

Our first year doing portfolios we didn't even start them until the middle of the year. 

Last year, we were reflecting on pieces of work from two or three units ago and doing multiple ones at the same time...NOT okay!I knew this year had to be different!

Goals for this year:

I hope that at the end of each unit our choices and reflections will deepen. 

I really want the students to be proud of their portfolios and be able to self-assess their work. 

I don't want it to be a chore or a hassle. 

I would love for my students to share their work with their parents at the end of the year. 

The last two years, I don't think my parents even knew these existed! 

We are off to a great start with our portfolios, I hope that we can keep it up! :)

You can get the portfolio page for FREE at my TPT store! Go check them out! Several pages are editable, including the cover, table of contents, and spines for the binders (I put their names on them).

Click on the picture to find it at my store!